Last week I tried to connect the need for moderation with the Holidays, celebrations, exercise and the Globesity Epidemic and said there’s reasons to make this a personal and family Quest, immediately. Let’s start, right!

Before New Year, you can mitigate the “damage” of holiday parties, so there’s less “need” for New Year Resolutions or for being behind the 8-ball with lots of holiday weight gain. You want a better outcome, right!

Last week I showed numbers that almost ALL of humanity is getting seriously fat, as a species. You can read additional stats here, and at Global Obesity Statistics.

More nations in perspective — some new:Worst — American Samoa. 94% of population is obese

Kiribati is at 82% overweight.

French Polynesia – 75% overweight

Saudi Arabia — 74% overweight

Panama — 67.5%

United States — 66.9% of us are overweight

Germany — 66.5% are fat

Egypt — 66%

Kuwait — 64% overweight

Bosnia and Herzegovina — 63%

New Zealand — 62.7% overweight

Malta — 62.3%

Israel — 61.9% fat

Croatia — 61.4%

Bahrain and the United Kingdom — 61% overweight

Australia — 60.8%

Macedonia and Barbados — 60.4% fat

Seychelles — 60.1%

Chile — 59.7% overweight

Canada — 59.1%

Italy — 57.4% fat

Spain — 55%

Brazil — 54.7% overweight

France — 46.5%

China — 41.1% fat

India — 37.5% overweight

Japan — less than 30% are overweight

Laos and Ghana — Best

Where does this leave us and why?

What I’ve learned in researching this over the years is that knowledge and behavioral choices count!

The French are, I believe, keeping their weight down successfully because overweight is so taboo there. Women are savvy about eating healthfully on small amounts of food, so much so that it is an art form, especially necessary in the upper classes.

Contrary to being “good” numbers, even though at the bottom rankings, those of China and India are huge wake-up calls to the governments of those countries. The numbers of overweight people in those statistics are massive (and would be enough for whole country populations, elsewhere). Their future health care will bankrupt them. Nutrition education; farming practices for healthy food for everyone; return to heritage foods and meals; not too many empty, deleterious carbs (like white rice, grain flours or sugar) is necessary to instigate as progressive, immediate change.

The Campbell studies in China point out a massive problem, and as affluence arrives, it will only be greater. And, with the massive pollution plaguing the land, more obesity will happen as individual bodies try to cellularly protect themselves from the toxins, by using “fat” to segregate them. Pollution causes tissue pH acidity — the cause of disease. This is a massive problem in the making.

India has begun to have an out-of-control, huge diabetes problem, even though the obesity stats are not as bad as many countries. It’s a crisis for the country and is almost exclusively caused by rampant sugar use from candies and desserts, from upwardly-mobile Indians getting better paychecks. Losing this affluent class would be an economic blow, so educate them. Only if they are healthy people as the spearhead of all your economic hopes can you have a future!

The Samoans have had representation from several individuals on The Biggest Loser, because their culture lauds big bodies — possibly as an acknowledgment of famines or long sea journeys in the past, where only the fat and fit survived. This may be a version of Wilson Syndrome OR of the Thrifty Gene Theory.

Wilson’s Syndrome is discounted by some, but that’s self-serving, when the accuracy of blood tests for thyroid hormones is seriously questioned by just as qualified practitioners! And, when people are treated for Wilsons and FEEL better and can lose weight better, that counts, more than anything!

Groups most at risk for Wilson’s Syndrome are those who have experienced repeated episodes of famine. These groups include: Jews, Russians, Scots, Welsh, Irish and Native Americans. And, if your ethnicity combines several of these, become much more aware of what Wilson’s is all about! Regardless of ethnicity, 80% of victims are female. Anyone can get Wilson’s. Read more about the work of Dr. Broda Barnes, too. (I think you’ll find reference in my archive.)

Stress is at the Core of the obesity problems in many countries, and with this huge economic downturn, and personal finances in decline, I expect a lot more obesity and a lot more diabetes to surface. Stress makes more adrenaline hormone and that affects how much insulin hormone we are dealing with!

It doesn’t matter if the stressor is war — as it was in Central Europe (like the numbers from Bosnia, Croatia etc.,) or famine or lack of food or less nutritious food (for the Native Americans).

The work of Dr. Barry Sears, PhD and his Zone Diet Program, along with the work of Dr. Robert O. Young, PhD and his pH Alkaline systems are central, as is understanding your ethnically optimal diet, which can be elucidated somewhat in the work of Dr. Peter D’Adamo, ND.

Countries are putting forth their most beautiful young people as “typical” and that’s before the statistics just claim them as more victims. There are barely any countries that are doing a decent job, citizen by citizen. Most are either thin because they’re poor and / or malnourished, rather than successfully managing their normal, healthy weight themselves.

Even those beautiful Scandinavians are not exempt.

So, that’s the reason to laud those who are doing the needed steps for health.

Among those, I include the Okinawans on traditional dietary foods (they are the main reason the Japanese stats look so good).

And, I include the Native Americans who have embraced a return to their ancestral foods and meals, eschewing the modern foods which were killing them from amazing rates of diabetes and heart disease. Those tribes include the Pima Tribe — highest in diabetes, worldwide (50+% of tribe members).

Native Americans and Alaska First Nations who have embraced modern foods have at least double the diabetes incidence of other Americans!

Most cultures with large numbers of fat people also tend to NOT be good at distinguishing when they start on the obesity path themselves. This is a scientific fact borne out in statements by participants in The Biggest Loser.

And, we know that people “start” getting fat, on a cellular level, with aberrations of metabolism etc. beginning 7 years before one starts to “look” fat.

Diet — portions and access to fresh vegetables and fruit as diet basis; enough fresh water daily; moderate exercise and stress reduction techniques are the key to solving this Globesity Epidemic.

Not wanting to be the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, it is still necessary to discuss a few important relevant topics for diabetics as you go through a round of parties and holiday eating, especially if you want to be reasonably healthy at the end of this Season! How do you do it?

___ Be open to a wake-up call!

Example 1: What do I mean by that? Well, for example, I just gave my sister, who had spent the summer and fall successfully losing weight by increasing exercise (swimming) and cutting back on food quantity and making smarter food choices, a copy of Dr. Rosedale’s landmark book about diet biochemistry. Bad choice. She wouldn’t read it.

I backed off as she’d been self-motivated and was being successful. She’d just asked for and received a pair of top-notch running shoes and was prepared to start her running regimen in winter. But, the information I was trying to share with her would have made it all “easier”, as she would have been learning how to work WITH her body, instead of trying to bash-it-into-compliance.

She’s off to California. The book is here. I’m sad. I wish her well, and I know I was helping. She doesn’t know what she missed. I think she will succeed, but it will be harder than it needed to be.

Example 2: You all know that I try to respond to the good and the bad on the TV program “The Biggest Loser”. Next week will be this season’s finale, and America is voting for the last of the three contestants who will make it to the finale. I am voting for Ada, as she has had the bigger obstacles in her life, least support from family and shown herself to be a person of great determination and fortitude which I want to reward. She just made a new record when winning the Biggest Loser Marathon! Brava! You can vote, too, here Biggest Loser Vote.

Surprisingly, I am proud of Americans. They are starting to get the wake-up call and starting to see that, especially in tough economic times, their Health is even more precious and in need of protection by their own Good Choices! If we lose our health insurance (which I did for the second time, several years ago and still have none), all you have is Knowledge and good judgment to protect you! Many more people are in that boat now.

Being practical — going in to try to apply for a job looking overweight and unfit is not going to “cut it” when employers are concerned about health costs and there are 5 times more applicants for every job, than usual. Time for you to start to re-invent yourself, with your doctor’s permission and guidance.

If you have no physician, then my suggestion is to just walk for at least an hour, everyday, at conversation pace (not being breathless, but being able to constantly talk to a companion, comfortably, if you wanted to for the whole time). You need to try to carve out the whole hour, as biochemical steps “kick-in”. But, if you can’t do the whole hour at once, then next-best choice is to cut it into either 40 minutes at lunchtime, 20 minutes in the morning or evening OR 20 minute chunks: morning, lunchtime and evening. Do this everyday. Walking isn’t strenuous enough to say “one day off, one day on ” or using “cross-training” rules, as we were meant to walk everyday.

___ Learn all you can about your body, food and exercise!

You’re here, so I am patting you on the back! Stay away from the American Diabetes Association food pyramid like the plague. Remove most grains from your diet (even if whole-grain). Get celiac, non-gluten recipes and start to try them. Use quinoa and wild rice (this is not a grain) as your main “grain” substitutes; both are very good for diabetes.

Use no artificial sweeteners. Use low glycemic stevia and agave nectar for natural sweetness and maple sugar, prudently. All these are good for diabetics. Eat way more than the 5 a day vegetables and fruits recommended by the US Government health bureaus. Eat less fruit, more vegetables. Include Vitamin C veggies and fruits everyday – kiwi is a good choice as it has Omega-3s, too.

Learn how to make your body pH alkaline everyday. I’ve written about this many times and have given you charts of pH alkaline foods. Look in the Titles Archive on the navigation bar above.

When you go to holiday parties, eat ahead at home, first. Then, at the party, with the roster of good pH alkaline foods remembered, indulge moderately. Also, calculate the empty calories of alcoholic drinks, the seriously acidic pH of any soda pop. Consider club soda with a twist and a shot of lemon or lime juice and 2 T of a little sweeter juice like pomegranate — with beneficial ellagic acids. It looks festive and has beneficial aspects to it. Do NOT use Seltzer Water. On the Club Soda label, look for either sodium bicarbonate or potassium bicarbonate, only.

If it’s a sit-down dinner, enjoy the healthiest parts of it.

There is time for celebration on the Middle Path. But, it’s important to know just when and how much is the time to choose. Not every office and collegial friend’s party is an “excuse”, but maybe you just really enjoy the time you spend on your main meal with family. Choose a time to truly celebrate, in a moderate way.

___ Become a role-model for others!

The severely overweight, morbidly obese contestants who succeed on The Biggest Loser are very aware about Pay It Forward actions. You can too. Here are some amazing numbers about global obesity. These statistics come for the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), but they are not perfectly meshed (as the country details are sometimes from different years and vary in sample size). But this is the best snapshot we have, so far, for the Globesity Epidemic.

The “healthiest” countries, which have at least 70% of their population still at “normal” body-mass index are, in order (best first): Laos and Ghana

The next tier has 60% – 70% of their populations at normal weight, in order (best first): Madagascar, Japan (mostly because of Okinawa), Viet Nam, Mongolia, Philippines, South Korea, India, Kyrgyzstan and Estonia

This next group is in serious trouble, with only 30% – 40% of their populations at normal weight, in order (best first): Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, United States of America, Croatia, Malta, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Panama

And, the worst country in the world, for obesity, where only 18% of the people are at normal weight, is Kiribati.

Next week, I’m going to give my thoughts as to why these numbers and what more can be done, but find your country of residence; find your ethnic heritage and start thinking about where you get your food behaviors from and exercise outlooks from. Then, you’ll be ready to take part in next week’s important conversation.

Meanwhile, prepare for your holiday season carefully and thoughtfully.

I sincerely wish all of you a Happy, Peaceful, Secure Holiday Season and I fervently hope all will be much better when I write, again, this time next year.

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(c)2010 Em at https://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com Please respect my copyright. You may quote 2 short paragraphs, but to use more or the whole article, please write for permission to the About Me page on the upper navigation bar. Thanks.

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Why I Am So Passionate About This!

The prevention of type 2 diabetes, especially, is looming as one of the most pressing public health concerns of the 21st century ... with ever-increasing numbers of teens and children being diagnosed ... with two-thirds of U.S. adults now overweight or obese and, therefore, seriously at-risk.
Type 2 diabetes is mostly preventable, through education and action. So, it is outrageous that the number of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is rising, world-wide, and the age they are stricken with it is falling!

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